Lewis Hamilton says he “couldn’t be closer” to a first grand prix victory for Ferrari amid his best run of form since joining the Italian team.The seven-time world champion endured a disappointing debut campaign with Ferrari after joining from Mercedes ahead of the 2025 season, but has made a far more encouraging start to his second campaign in red.
After claiming his first grand prix podium for Ferrari in China in March, Hamilton has added back-to-back second places in Canada and Monaco over the last two rounds.
Those results have lifted the 41-year-old to second in the Drivers’ Championship, albeit 66 points back from Kimi Antonelli, who has won each of the last five races for Mercedes.
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Highlights from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
Asked after Sunday’s race in Monaco how close he feels a first win for Ferrari is, Hamilton, who holds F1’s all-time record with 105 victories, replied: “I mean, it couldn’t be closer.
“But it’s still 66 points. I can’t believe that I’m second in the championship and I’m really happy and thankful for that.”
‘I’ll do my best to chase down Antonelli’Antonelli replaced Hamilton at Mercedes last year and after a challenging rookie campaign, has exceeded all expectations by dominating the early stages of the 2026 season.
The 19-year-old Italian is thriving in the system that helped Hamilton to six of his seven titles, with Antonelli working under the leadership of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and having also inherited the Brit’s former race engineer Peter Bonnington.
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After finishing on the podium alongside Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar, Lewis Hamilton joked that he was older than the two combined!
Hamilton said: “He (Antonelli) is doing a phenomenal job. He’s got an amazing team around him with Bono, with Toto and the whole team. And I’m really happy to see them doing what they do best. And then for him in this moment to be delivering on the level that he’s delivering at, it’s awesome to see.”It just encourages me to…
2026-06-10 06:00:00
